1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus designed for use by a disabled individual for the lifting, lowering and storage of a wheelchair on top of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is the desire of most disabled individuals who must rely on wheelchairs for mobility to be self-sufficient and to be able to increase their mobility through the use of hand-controlled motor vehicles. The main difficulty encountered by a disabled individual who is capable of operating a hand-controlled motor vehicle is the storage of his wheelchair. The need for an improved method of wheelchair storage to give disabled individuals greater mobility is heightened by the fact that the needs of the handicapped are being considered to a greater degree and access ramps are being provided in the construction of public buildings and sidewalks making it easier for wheelchair users to move about unassisted.
At present a disabled individual restricted to a wheelchair or other hand-controlled motorized vehicle for locomotion who wishes to operate a motor vehicle must first wheel himself to the motor vehicle, open the door of the vehicle and manually position himself behind the steering wheel. Then he must store his wheelchair in the vehicle. The storage of a wheelchair in a motor vehicle by a disabled individual is most difficult because in the usual practice, the wheelchair must be folded into its closed position and then maneuvered into the backseat area of the vehicle. This is an ackward and strenuous maneuver and can only be accomplished by those individuals possessing sufficient strength to lift a wheelchair weighing a minimum of 25 pounds into the backseat area from their sitting position in the front seat. Further resistance is met should the wheelchair strike either the backseat or the hump found in the middle of the floor of the vehicle which houses the drive shaft. The method of storage described above can only be used in a two-door vehicle where the front seat can be moved forward enabling the wheelchair to be maneuvered in immediately behind the front seat. It is extremely difficult for a disabled individual to store his wheelchair in the back seat area of a four-door vehicle. When the individual reaches his destination, he must reach behind and maneuver the wheelchair from his sitting position in the front seat out of the backseat area and into a position where he can open the wheelchair and manually place himself into it.
At present there are devices on the market which allow a wheelchair to be hung on the outside of the door of a motor vehicle. Use of this device has the disadvantage in that the wheelchair is exposed to the elements and is subject to being struck by other cars. Moreover unless a disabled individual has assistance, hanging and unhanging a wheelchair from the outside of a motor vehicle can present the same degree of ackwardness and difficulty as positioning a wheelchair into the backseat area of a motor vehicle.
The apparatus of this invention would allow disabled individuals to increase their travel in hand-controlled cars by eliminating the difficulties encountered in storing their wheelchairs.